Idaho Education Notecard: March 16
The reading impasse. For weeks, the debate over an Idaho reading test has generally played out behind the scenes at the Statehouse. Now the fight is very public, and it threatens to derail the end of the 2018 legislative session. On Friday, the House killed state superintendent Sherri Ybarra’s department budget proposal, because budget-writers had removed funding for a new statewide reading test. You can find more here.
‘This is what democracy looks like.’ Hundreds of Idaho students descended on the Statehouse Wednesday morning to add their voices to a national debate. They were participating in a national student walkout to commemorate the victims of the Feb. 14 shootings at a Florida high school — and to protest federal inaction on gun control. “We need adults to stop guns from getting into schools,” said Borah High School student Nick Cuellar. You can find more information here.
Scholarship bill scuttled. A controversial bill to create a private school scholarship program met a quiet demise this week. Senate Education Committee Chairman Dean Mortimer called off a hearing on the bill and decided to hold it, effectively killing it for the 2018 session. Leading education groups, the State Board of Education and Ybarra all lined up against the bill, which passed the House last week. You can find more information here.
Big-ticket ballot measures pass. Several of the state’s largest school districts — West Ada, Lewiston, Bonneville and Twin Falls — got voter approval for bond issues and tax levies Tuesday. Several other measures failed, including bond issues in Middleton and Emmett, and a school levy in the embattled New Plymouth School District. All told, voters approved $348 million in ballot measures. You can find more information here.
‘Go-on rate’ going nowhere. Forty-five percent of Idaho’s high school graduates went straight to college in 2017 — a “go-on rate” that is unchanged from 2016 and down slightly from 2015. The State Board finds some good news in the raw numbers; more students are enrolling in college, and more of these enrollees are staying in the state. Since 2013, Idaho has invested more than $100 million in programs designed to encourage high school graduates to continue their education. You can find more information here.
Kevin Richert is a reporter and blogger with Idaho Education News ( idahoednews.org .) Idaho Education News is an independent news site focused on education policy and politics, funded by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation. Richert has worked in the Idaho news media since 1985, as a reporter, editor and columnist.
